Technology and Wisdom :
Metaphysical stakes of the Information Society

Louis Chammings
July 1999

I. Some quotations from "Fides et ratio"

II. What is at stake with the Information Society ?

III. Anthropological and Metaphysical Consequences

Conclusion

Introduction.

The goal of the encyclical "Fides et ratio" is to
recall the nature and the conditions of a true Christian wisdom, which
depends on reason, as well as it depends on faith : "Faith and
reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the
contemplation of truth." (F&R, preamble)

The question of the specific kind of wisdom the new age we come in is
requiring, is obviously one of those "Fides et ratio"
asks us. In such an issue, we can hear in this document an explicit
echo from "Redemptor hominis", the first encyclical
letter of John-Paul II, which was itself in continuity with
"Gaudium et Spes" [1]

Developing some consequences of "the drama of the separation of
faith and reason", John-Paul II writes :

"It should also be borne in mind that the role of philosophy
itself has changed in modern culture. From universal wisdom and
learning, it has been gradually reduced to one of the many fields of
human knowing; indeed in some ways it has been consigned to a wholly
marginal role. Other forms of rationality have acquired an ever higher
profile, making philosophical learning appear all the more peripheral.
These forms of rationality are directed not towards the
contemplation of truth and the search for the ultimate goal and meaning
of life; but instead, as "instrumental reason", they are
directed -- actually or potentially -- towards the promotion of
utilitarian ends, towards enjoyment or power." (No 47)

I would like to confront this statement to some metaphysical
implications of the powerful development of communication and
information technologies, as constituting the basis for the prospect of
Information Society.

More specifically, I would like to examine how far, and in which way,
this so-called information society entails an "other form of
rationality" which deserves the qualification of
"instrumental reason", and then the need for info-
ethics.

I. Some quotations from "Fides et ratio"

I.1 "The man of today seems ever to be under threat from
what he produces, that is to say from the result of the work of his
hands and, even more so, of the work of his intellect and
the tendencies of his will." (No 47) (Quotation from
R.H.)

I.2 "To be consonant with the word of God, philosophy needs
first of all to recover its sapiential dimension as a search for the
ultimate and overarching meaning of life. ( . . . ) This sapiential
dimension is all the more necessary today, because the immense
expansion of humanity's technical capability demands a renewed and
sense of ultimate values. If this technology is not ordered to
something greater than a merely utilitarian end, then it could soon
prove inhuman and even become potential destroyer of the human
race." (No 81) (Reference to R.H. through a
footnote)

I.3 "The two requirements already stipulated [i.e.
'sapiential dimension' and 'capacity to know the truth'] imply a
third: the need for a philosophy of genuinely metaphysical
range, capable, that is, of transcending empirical data in order to
attain something absolute, ultimate and foundational in its search for
truth." (No 83)

I.4 "Science would thus be poised to dominate all
aspects of human life through technological progress. The
undeniable triumphs of scientific research and contemporary technology
have helped to propagate a scientistic outlook, which now seems
boundless, given its inroads into different cultures and the radical
changes it has brought." (No 88)

I.5 " This leads to the impoverishment of human thought,
which no longer addresses the ultimate problems which the human being,
as the animal rationale, has pondered constantly from the beginning of
time. And since it leaves no space for the critique offered by
ethical judgement, the scientistic mentality has succeeded in leading
many to think that if something is technically possible it is therefore
morally admissible." (No 88)

I.6 " The consequences of this are clear: in practice,
the great moral decisions of humanity are subordinated to decisions
taken one after another by institutional agencies. Moreover,
anthropology itself is severely compromised by a one-dimensional vision
of the human being, a vision which excludes the great ethical dilemmas
and the existential analyses of the meaning of suffering and sacrifice,
of life and death." (No 88)

I.7 " it remains true that a certain positivist cast of
mind continues to nurture the illusion that, thanks to scientific and
technical progress, man and woman may live as a demiurge, single-
handedly and completely taking charge of their destiny." (No
91)

I.8 " Philosophy moreover is the mirror which reflects
the culture of a people. A philosophy which responds to the
challenge of theology's demands and evolves in harmony with faith is
part of that "evangelization of culture" which Paul VI
proposed as one of the fundamental goals of evangelization. I have
unstintingly recalled the pressing need for a new evangelization; and I
appeal now to philosophers to explore more comprehensively the
dimensions of the true, the good and the beautiful to which the word of
God gives access. This task becomes all the more urgent if we
consider the challenges which the new millennium seems to entail, and
which affect in a particular way regions and cultures which have a
long-standing Christian tradition. This attention to philosophy too
should be seen as a fundamental and original contribution in service of
the new evangelization." (No 103)

I.9 " Philosophical thought is often the only ground for
understanding and dialogue with those who do not share our faith.
The current ferment in philosophy demands of believing philosophers an
attentive and competent commitment, able to discern the
expectations, the points of openness and the key issues of this
historical moment." (No 104)

I.10 " A philosophy in which there shines even a glimmer of
the truth of Christ, the one definitive answer to humanity's problems,
will provide a potent underpinning for the true and planetary ethics
which the world now needs." (No 104)

II. What is at stake with the Information Society ?

" We are living through one of the most fundamental technological
and social changes in history. The revolution in information
technologies that took shape in the early 1970s, and diffused
throughout the economy, society, and culture in the last quarter of the
twentieth century, has profoundly transformed the way we live, work,
produce, consume, communicate, travel, think, enjoy, make war and
peace, give birth, and die. It has also transformed, as have all major
technological revolutions, the material foundations of human life,
time, and space;" (Manuel Castells[2]).

II.1 What is information society ?

"Information society" means the latest stage of an
economically developed society, the main activities and institutions of
which are based upon use and development of information and
communication technologies : "By informational city, I
understand an urban system with sociospatial structure and dynamics
determined by a reliance of wealth, power, and culture, on knowledge
and information processing in global networks, managed and organized
through intensive use of information/communication
technologies." (Manuel Castells, ibid.)

Since communication as well as information is involved in the
definition of information society, there are two main dimensions to be
considered in it : a social one, related to the communicational
aspect, and an intellectual one, related to the informational
aspect.

II.2 What is communication ?

SHANNON's Model Diagram

 Transmission is not communication itself, but only its
material support

 Rational animal

= social animal

= communicating animal

Man needs society not only for his material wants, but furthermore for
his spiritual existence and development. People need communication to
exchanging the soul goods. Communication, as expressing the spiritual
nature of person, is oriented to its development. In any philosophy of
communication, there is an anthropology of person.

 Language is the archetype and the basis of social
communication means.

Now sign (or symbol) is the central concept for linguistics, hence
sign (symbol) is a central concept for communication study.

"Spoken words are the symbols of mental experience and written
words are the symbols of spoken words" (Aristotle, On
Interpretation, 1).

Signs and symbols can be material, but the sense or meaning of
"mental experience" is definitely immaterial.

 Computers and networks are materially dealing with something
immaterial. Here is the reason of their power.

 Definition of "information" :

To "in-form" means to give form. As a matter of fact,
information is related to Aristotelian form. But we must keep in
consideration the two modalities of existence of the form :

1/ "entitative" form, as the immaterial part of the
existing thing ;

2/ "intentional" form, or, say,
"cognitive" form, as constituting the content of the
concept abstracted from the thing through the knowing process.

 Definition :

- as the immaterial content of communication, or as knowledge (sense
1), information is intentional or cognitive form.

- as the material object of computing (sense 2), information is the
sign (or symbol) of cognitive form.

III. Anthropological and Metaphysical Consequences

III.1 The deepening gap between "info-rich" and
"info-poor"

"Prevailing trends, however, cloud what could be an
exhilarating moment for humankind, opening up extraordinary
possibilities for material prosperity and spiritual fulfillment, with
the inducement of social exclusion in parallel to social development,
deepening existing patterns of sociospatial segregation. These
trends are rooted in powerful processes of economic globalization and
capitalist restructuring that use to their advantage the potential of
new information technologies, conditioning the social trajectory of
technological change." ( . . . )

"Thus, the emerging, informational city is by and large a dual
city. ( . . . ) By dual city, I understand an urban system socially
and spatially polarized between high value-making groups and functions
on the one hand and devalued social groups and downgraded spaces on the
other hand. This polarization induces increasing integration of the
social and spatial core of the urban system, at the same time that it
fragments devalued spaces and groups, and threatens them with social
irrelevance." (Manuel Castells[3])

III.2 Dematerialization or Desubstantialization ?

John Perry Barlow :

"Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh
and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On
behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are
not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.
( . . . )

Cyberspace consists of transactions, relationships, and thought itself,
arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. Ours
is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where
bodies live. ( . . . )

Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and
context do not apply to us. They are based on matter. There is no
matter here." (John Perry Barlow,A Declaration of
the Independence of Cyberspace, Davos, 1996[4] )

Howard P. Kainz, Jr. :

" In this paper, I would like to take a look in particular at
Aquinas' theory of separate substances. With this theory, we bypass the
old question of the reducibility or irreducibility of consciousness to
its material conditions, and we also find, in my opinion, some
interesting analogies to contemporary computer technology. It would be
too much to hope that these analogies, even if substantial, would
instigate a revival of interest in Angelology among technophiles. But
those interested in the metaphysics of the mind-body problem may find
them suggestive :

 Microprocessors and Angelic
Self-possession

 ROM and Innate Ideas

 RAM and the Negative Active Potency
of Separate Substances

 Hard Drives and Intellectual
Memory

 The Operating System and the
Reception of Information

 Software and Habitually Acquired
Species

 "Downward Compatibility"
and Proportional Universality

 Multitasking

 Modems and the Ability to Transfer
Information

 Networks and the Transmission of
Ideas, via Hierarchies

 Speed-caches and the Effect of
Immateriality

It should be mentioned, however, that there was considerable
disagreement among medieval and patristic authors concerning the
"immateriality" of angels. Augustine and Origen had
speculated about the possibility of angelic bodies being composed of
matter, albeit a more "subtle" matter. Duns Scotus gave lip-
service to the received doctrine of angelic incorporeality, but
challenged his readers' imagination by theorizing that angels must have
some kind of "incorporeal" matter; and, consistently with
this theory, Duns Scotus thought that angels must reason discursively
in some fashion. If there were any kind of matter in angels --
subtle or "incorporeal" -- the leap from completely
immaterial beings to partly material beings would be less formidable,
and the analogy between angelic spontaneous instananeity and the
linear, sequential operations of computers would be even
closer." (Artificial Intelligence and Angelology,Howard P.
Kainz, Jr., Marquette University[5])

The virtualization of cyberspace, i.e. the delocalization and
dematerialization of the social space of communication, leads to some
disincarnation in social relationships.

Return to the ancient Greek Theater, where "persona"
meant a mask : person can be reduced to a part played by clones or
avatars.

III.4 Modern Idolatry :
Overvaluation of Images substituting for Things

Computing signs are only sequences of 0 and 1 (or other symbols)
which are of no psychological interest for people. But images are signs
alike the things they are signs of : so they can be substitutes for
things.

Conclusion :

By means of information and communication technologies, information
society materially manage the specific immaterial objects of human
soul. This fact is not bad in itself, but it is both powerful and
dangerous. In any case, it creates by itself an urgent call for the
contemporary man to reach a true wisdom including a much higher sense
of reality metaphysically grounded in "intuition of
being" . . .

Notes

[1]
Second
Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution "On the Church in the Modern
World".